Transgressing the Bounds: Subversive Enterprises among the Puritan Elite in Massachusetts, 1630-1692

300 Pages·2001·1.61 MB·English

by  Louise A. Breen

Transgressing the Bounds:
Subversive Enterprises
among the Puritan Elite in
Massachusetts, 1630–1692
Louise A. Breen
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Transgressing the Bounds
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JohnGatta LouiseA.Breen
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ransgressing the ounds
Subversive
Enterprises
among the
Puritan Elite
in Massachusetts,
1630–1692
Louise A. Breen
1
2001
1
Oxford NewYork
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Copyright(cid:1)2001byLouiseA.Breen
PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc.,
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Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
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electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,
withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Breen,Louise.
Transgressingthebounds:subversiveenterprisesamongthePuritanelitein
Massachusetts,1630–1692/LouiseBreen.
p. cm.—(ReligioninAmericaseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-19-513800-7
1. Puritans—Massachusetts—History—17thcentury.2. Puritans—Massachusetts—
Socialconditions—17thcentury.3. Elite(Socialsciences)—Massachusetts—History
—17thcentury.4. Civil-militaryrelations—Massachusetts—History—17thcentury.
5. AncientandHonorableArtilleryCompanyofMassachusetts—History—17thcentury.
6. Antinomianism—History—17thcentury.7. Massachusetts—History—
Colonialperiod,ca.1600–1775.8. Massachusetts—Socialconditions—17thcentury.
9. Massachusetts—Churchhistory—17thcentury. I. Title.
II. ReligioninAmericaseries(OxfordUniversityPress)
F67.B822000
974.4'02'08825—dc21 00-026310
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
Acknowledgments
This is a wonderful opportunity to thank thefine individualsandinstitu-
tionsthathavehelpedmealongtheway.Firstandforemost,Ihavebeen
blessedwithwonderfulteachers.KarenO.Kupperman,mymajorprofessor
duringmygraduatecareerattheUniversityofConnecticut,andamentor
to me in the years thereafter, has shared her enviable knowledge of early
Americanhistory,and,throughherownpursuitofexcellence,hasbeena
sourceofconstantinspiration.Fromthedissertationstageforward,shehas
read and commented upon successive drafts of this manuscript, offering
encouragement and criticism at all the critical junctures. Harry S. Stout,
whom I encountered initially as the tremendously enthusiasticinstructor
ofmyfirstuniversity-levelU.S.Historysurveyclass,showedmethathistory
was an interpretiveenterprise,andofferedwhat,atthetime,Itooktobe
apreposteroussuggestion:thatIpursueanadvanceddegreeinthesubject.
Later on, after I acted on his advice and enrolled in his seminar on New
England history, he instilled in me an abiding interest in the Puritans.
HarryS.Stoutshowedmewhatwaspossible;hiswordsofencouragement
atsuchanearlystagemadeatremendousimpression,andledmeultimately
toacareerinhistory.Idonothavewordssufficienttoexpressmythanks
forthe timeand effort thesetwogenerousscholarshaveexpendedonmy
behalf.
During the research and writing of the dissertation out of which this
book grew, I received short-term research fellowships from the Masachu-
vi acknowledgments
setts Historical Society and the John Carter Brown Library, as well as a
year-longdissertationfellowshipfromtheHarryFrankGuggenheimFoun-
dation.AfterjoiningthehistorydepartmentatKansasStateUniversity,I
was granted a Faculty Fellowship from the Pew Program in Religion and
American History at Yale University, which afforded me the tremendous
gift of a free year in which to rethink portions of my work, and to revise
themanuscriptintoitspresentform.DuringmytimeattheUniversityof
Connecticut,IbenefitedgreatlyfromtheinstructionandadviceofRichard
D.BrownandShirleyA.Roe,andfromthefriendshipofJamesF.Cooper
Jr.,KennethP.Minkeman,Cynthia,J.VanZandt,WalterW.Woodward,
and Philip Zwick. I would also like to thank the anonymous readerswho
commented on my manuscript when it was being considered for publica-
tion.
On a personal level, I must acknowledge my very supportive family.
My parents, Dorothy E. Breen and Robert L. Breen, provided encourage-
ment both moral and material as I pursued graduate study. My husband,
SaeedM.Khan,sustainsmeininnumerableways,andhasmanifestedhis
affectionbysomehowlearningtolivewiththePuritans.Finally,Iowemy
colleaguesintheHistoryDepartmentatKansasStateUniversityadebtof
gratitude for providing a stimulating and good-natured atmosphere in
whichtoteach,write,andreflect.
I have incorporated into this book materials previously published in
Louise A. Breen, “Religious Radicalism in the Puritan Officer Corps:
Antinomianism, the Artillery Company, and Cultural Integration in
Seventeenth-Century Boston,” New EnglandQuarterly,68(March1995),
3–43; and “Praying with the Enemy: Daniel Gookin, King Philip’s War
andtheDangersofInterculturalMediatorship,”inEmpireandOthers:Brit-
ishEncounterswithIndigenousPeoples,1600–1850,ed.MartinDauntonand
RichHalpern(Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,1999),101–
22.Ithankthepulishersforallowingmetouseportionsoftheseessaysin
thisbook.Quotationsandcitationsfrommanuscriptcollectionsownedby
the Massachuetts Historical Society and the Massachusetts Archives at
ColumbiaPointappearherebypermissionofthoseinstitutions.
L.A.B.
Manhattan,Kansas
Contents
Introduction 3
1 TheAntinomianMoment:AContestofCulturesin
PuritanMassachusetts 17
2 “IAmeAsJephthah:”Honor,Heresy,andtheMassachusetts
OrdealofJohnUnderhill 57
3 CosmopolitanPuritansinaProvincialColony 97
4 PrayingwiththeEnemy:DanielGookin,KingPhilip’sWar,
andtheDangersofInterculturalMediatorship 145
5 EpilogueandConclusion 197
Notes 221
Index 283
Transgressing the Bounds